‘Black Dutchmen’, a term used to refer to soldiers in the colonial army of African background whose ancestors were brought to the East Indies as enslaved persons from the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana), as well as Moluccans whom the Dutch awarded European status.

‘Be ready’, referring to a period of violence in the early phase of the revolution during which republican supporters attacked Indo-Europeans and other minorities, between September 1945 and November 1946.

‘Son of the earth’, a politically charged term used as a form of racial classification to refer to ‘natives’ or local inhabitants. The term has sometimes been used to imply that some Indonesians are more ‘Indonesian’ than others.

Refers to the structures of power, ideas and practices underpinning colonisation, which persist to the present.

To detach from structures of coloniality and to (re)establish old and new ways of thinking, languages, ways of life and being in the world that coloniality rejects.

A colonial term used to refer to ‘native’ Indonesians.

(also kampung) A village or hamlet

(Peristiwa Madiun) When in August 1948 factions in the Indonesian military seized control over the city of Madiun in East Java, which the republican government declared was an illegal uprising.

A myth used by the Dutch during the colonial era to characterise certain ethnic groups, particularly Moluccans, as supposedly having superior martial skills and a ferocious manner.

(Orde Baru) A term adopted by President Suharto to describe his regime (1966–98), contrasting with President Sukarno’s Old Order (Orde Lama).

The branch of the civil service staffed by locals in the colonial era.

Chinese who were born in the Netherlands East Indies.

‘Native of the soil’, a term used to refer to local Indonesians; sometimes also used to exclude those considered to be of migrant descent.

Dynastic ending in Bali

A ceasefire agreement in January 1948 that confirmed Dutch territorial gains in return for a plebiscite in Dutch-occupied parts of Java, Madura and Sumatra as to whether they would join the republic or become separate states.

(also G30S, Gerakan Tiga Puluh September) The formal name of the movement that launched the 30 September 1965 coup, led by Colonels Untung and Latief, in which six generals and one general’s aide were kidnapped and killed.

‘Foreign Orientals’, a term coined by the Dutch to classify Chinese, Arab and Indian communities during the colonial period.